Saturday, February 1, 2014

Wartime in Saskatchewan

Wartime, Saskatchewan is located on CN's Elrose Sub. When I visited on a hot afternoon in 1986, two grain elevators were still standing, lettered for Sask Wheat Pool and Federal. I was touring some grain branches out of Saskatoon, photographing elevators on a route I had selected before heading west. That's my railfan vehicledu jour in the shadow of the tower at left, a Chevrolet Cavalier:

After and before: Charles Bohi shared this photo of Wartime, taken in the 1970s (above). The enclosed wooden water tower, station and elevators, plus the arrow-straight prairie branch line trackage made it a timeless scene. Notice the remaining grain door storage post still standing in front of the pool elevator in my photo (below), with stored wooden grain doors visible in Chuck's photo.

By 1993, the two elevators had been demolished. The water towerstill stands. A CN freight passed through Wartime in 2009. Feeling Grieg-arious? The musical score accompanies the narration of a cyclist-shot cycloramic video view of Wartime revealing its Canadian Northern Rwy. name origin at the outbreak of World War I, and a passing rail train with a CN Operation Lifesaver caboose!

Running extra...

Rare mileage: Maybe it looks like just a bus on a street. Earlier this week, high winds closed Bayridge Drive due to drifting snow and reduced visibility. My usual commutes, westbound Kingston Express route 501

For scenic views from the Atlantic coast of Canada, check out Kingston Collegiate graduate Jonathan Soper's blog Travels Over Water. Aboard an oil and chemical tanker whose home port is Saint John, NB. Jonathan has already shared some great photos off PEI, in St John's harbour and aboard his new home-away-from-home, the MT Acadian.

I don't think it's an early April fool's joke, but Morning Sun Books is advertising Penn Central Power in Color, Volume 2. Yes, I said in Color. Check out the book cover to see the Henry Ford-like selection of beautiful full-colour images. Any color (I can't help it...colour) you like as long as it's black. Wait, I forgot...a few units had the scarlet letter in the 'mating worms' logo.

Why is it that the entire world can agree on the PLU (Price Look Up) number that is on those little peelable stickers on fruits and vegetables, but we can't get together and agree to stop war, international conflict, rampant corporate greed and man's inhumanity to man? Fun PLU Fact: 4449 is not only an Southern Pacific 4-8-4 Daylight, it's also a Sunburst Tangerine!

7 comments:

Thanks for your comment, Robert. They are fairings to hide the A/C unit on the roof of the XN40. On the earlier XD40 series, some of which Kingston Transit also bought, in 2012, the fairing is much shorter, stopping part way back from the front.

I've been riding the Kingston Express service to work since it was inaugurated on Sept 3, 2013 and I'm a public transit convert! At that time, the Xcelsiors still had that 'new bus smell'!Ericfault soutemb

Thanks, Elijah. That Youtuber has a series of such videos. I haven't started watching them for two reasons...I might forget to sleep and eat, plus there is a certain amount of 'what's not there anymore' as the Wartime video illustrates.

I'm just hoping no-one thinks that war has broken out, based on the post title! Battle of the Battlefords, perhaps?Eric

Union Pacific's Big Boys were among the largest steam locomotives in the world, a typically American but accurate claim. Articulated and unusual, a disproportionately large number, eight, were preserved. UP 4012 (close as I could get) is preserved in Scranton, Pa.

Interestingly, UP 4014 is on its way back to restoration and active service, being moved from Los Angeles to Cheyenne, WY, where UP 4004 also resides.

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Rather Sketchy Profile

Eric Gagnon was born in Montreal, Quebec and has lived in Kingston, Ontario most of his life. Much time was spent trackside when not in school, college or practising as a medical laboratory technologist. Married with two children, Eric is also an HO-scale modeller, musician, avid reader and blogger, having launched his Canadian railfan blog Trackside Treasure in 2008. Eric's first book Trackside with VIA:The First 35 Years, published in 2011, was followed by two more in 2012: Trackside with VIA:Cross-Canada Compendium and Consist Companion. In 2017, Eric published his fourth book, Trackside with VIA - Research & Recollections. Eric's books can be found in museum gift shops, hobby shops and in the hands of VIA Rail enthusiasts across Canada, the United States and worldwide.

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